What, in the World, is Music?

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Chapter 5How Music Works, Part III Dynamics,
Timbre, and Instruments
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Dynamics
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• Dynamics refers to amplitude, or how loud/soft
  the music is. Musical sounds range from silence
  to deafening loudness, and all the possibilities
  in between account for dynamics.
• When a tone gradually gets louder, it is called a
  crescendo. When a tone gradually gets softer, it
  is called a decrescendo.
• Terraced dynamics occur when amplitude changes
  suddenly, rather than gradually.
• Scientifically, tones are measured in decibels.
  Musical analysis is more concerned with the
  loudness and softness of tones relative to each
  other (dynamics).

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• Perception of dynamics is dependent on context.
• A loud dynamic during a rock concert is likely
  much louder than a loud dynamic during a solo
  flute recital.
• Dynamic range refers to the range between the
  loudest and softest notes.
• The dynamic range of a flute recital is likely to
  be greater than that of a rock concert, since
  Western classical music tends to use more dynamic
  contrast than heavy metal music.

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Timbre
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• Timbre refers to the character or quality of a
  musical tone or tones.
• Timbre allows us to distinguish between
• an electric and acoustic guitar
• a choir and an orchestra
• a heavy metal band and the literal heavy metal
  of a Caribbean style steel band. (CD ex. 1-30)

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• Computer-generated images called spectograms show
  visual differences in the timbre of tones.
  Timbres can be explained by the fact that all
  tones are made of multiple pitches, not just the
  one pitch generally perceived by the listener.
  (e.g., the pitch F, or A, or C).
• Each spectogram is a snapshot of all the
  partials, or each of the many pitch components,
  contained in a tone. Just as a flute and
  saxophone sound different in terms of timbre,
  they appear different on computer spectograms.

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• Tones contains two types of partials
• the fundamental pitch, which appears darkest on
  the spectrogram
• harmonics, the series of overtones
• When we hear a note, we hear it as having the
  pitch of the fundamental, for example F, or B.
  We also hear the overtones, but they merge
  together to create the timbre of the note.

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• Some music traditions employ the ability of
  performers to manipulate the relationships
  between the fundamental pitch and its harmonics.
• The didgeridoo, CD ex. 1-13, requires the player
  to manipulate harmonics by constantly changing
  the shape and position of their mouth.
• Mongolian khoomii, as in CD ex. 1-6, is an
  extraordinary example of not only harmonic
  manipulation, but multiphonic singing (the
  singing of multiple tones at once).

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• Experienced musicians can even distinguish the
  timbre of particular players. Jazz enthusiasts
  can tell whether the saxophonist on a recording
  is John Coltrane or Lester Young, just as a
  casual listener can quickly identify Bob Dylan or
  Louis Armstrong.
• What words might you use to describe timbre?
• Words used are often metaphors textural,
  anatomical, metaphysical, emotional,
  socioeconomic, taste-related, color-related.

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• Textural velvety, airy, gravelly
• Anatomical nasal, throaty
• Metaphysical ethereal, heavenly
• Emotional somber, melancholy
• Socioeconomic rich, majestic
• Taste-related creamy, sweet
• Color-related blue, red hot

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• Western terms used to describe timbre are
  imprecise and rather subjective.
• Other languages, like Japanese, have richer and
  more exact terms of timbral description.
• Often more accurate than timbral description is
  simply naming the instrument producing the sound.

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Music Instruments
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Music Instrument Classification

• A music instrument is any sound-generating medium
  used to produce tones in the making of music.
• This includes the voice and familiar instruments
  such as maracas, flute, didgeridoo, cymbals,
  electronic instruments like synthesizers, digital
  samplers, and sound modifiers, and found
  sounds both invented tones and tones perceived
  by listeners as music, like a bird singing.
• Instrumentation refers to the types and numbers
  of instruments used in a piece or performance.

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Music Instrument Classification
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• Thousands upon thousands of instruments exist,
  and systems of categorization date back 3,000
  years in places like China and India.
• The oral/aural tradition-based society of the
  Areare categorize all non-vocal instruments as
  au, or bamboo.
• The best-known Western instrument classification
  system divides instruments into strings, winds,
  and percussion. It has limitations in terms of
  categorizing global instruments.
• The Hornbostel-Sachs system (1914) uses four
  original categories and a fifth added later on.
  These five categories are explored in the
  following slides.

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Chordophones
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• Chordophones are instruments in which the sound
  is activated by the vibration of a string or
  strings (chords) over a resonating chamber.
• Methods of string activation vary, including use
  of fingertips, plectra, bows, or mallets. The
  piano is a chordophone (pressing down key
  activates felt-tipped hammer, which strikes a
  string).

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Aerophones
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• Aerophones produce sound by the action of air
  passing through a tune or some other kind of
  resonator.
• In addition to tinwhistles, flutes, and organs,
  this category includes the human voice.

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Membranophones
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• Membranophones are instruments in which the
  vibration of a membrane (natural or synthetic)
  stretched tightly across a frame resonator
  produces the sound.
• This category includes many drums, but also
  kazoos! Membranes are activated in different
  ways with fingers, sticks, palms, and even
  mouths.

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Idiophones
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• Idiophones are instruments in which the vibration
  of the body of the instrument itself (rather than
  a string, air tube, or membrane) produces the
  sound.
• Sound activation techniques range from shaking,
  striking, rubbing, plucking, stamping, and
  clapping.
• Compound instruments, like the drum set, combine
  categories (idiophones and membranophones.)
  
  
  

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Electronophones
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• Pure electronophones, such as synthesizers and
  digital samplers, use electronics to generate the
  sound and to amplify and enhance it.
• Hybrid electronophones, like the electric
  guitar, are modified conventional acoustic
  instruments that make use of electronics for
  amplification and processing.
• If you have to plug in an electronophone for it
  to function as it should, it is pure. If it can
  function at least marginally without being
  plugged in, it is hybrid.
• All electronic music instruments can be
  categorized as sound generators and sound
  modifiers.

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• Sound generators are used to produce sounds
  sound modifiers are used to alter and enhance
  them.
• Digital sampling allows for any existing sound to
  be recorded, stored as digital data, and then
  reproduced either verbatim or in electronically
  manipulated form.
• Digital synthesis creates electronic sounds from
  scratch, whereas digital sampling originates with
  a recorded external source.
• Music recording technologies have revolutionized
  the making, reception, perception, and meaning of
  music on a global scale.

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• In the mid-1960s, multitrack recording was
  invented. It relied on overdubbing the layering
  of dozens of separately recorded musical tracks
  one atop the other.
• This allowed for the creation of new sounds and
  the transformation of existing ones, changing the
  conception of what it means to make music.